Oxford United Women fell to a 2-1 defeat against AFC Bournemouth, despite a valiant second-half performance at the Vitality Stadium.
Two-nil down after just 17 minutes through excellent finishes from Charlotte Harris and Sophie Quirk, Oxford rallied and pulled a goal back in stoppage time through Shaunna Jenkins in front of an impressive crowd of 5,850 people.
Oxford looked nervous at the start of the game, with the home side on the front foot. The Cherries took the lead in the 10th minute after Harris received the ball on the left, cut inside and curled her shot beyond keeper Beth Wookey.
Six minutes later, Bournemouth doubled their lead on a counter-attack following an Oxford corner. The ball made its way to Quirk whose shot from distance looped up and dropped into the net with Wookey stranded.
Emma Thompson replaced the injured Holly Turner after half an hour, and she helped Oxford gain some momentum, flashing a shot just wide, although Bournemouth had the majority of the possession.
United came out for the second period in determined mood, but had to be wary of the hosts, who looked a threat every time they countered. However, the Oxford defence held firm and denied any clear sight of goal for the Bournemouth attack.
At the other end, the U’s came close to pulling a goal back when captain Naomi Bedeau’s snap shot came back off the crossbar. In truth, though, for all Oxford’s pressure, they were unable to work Erin Foley in the home goal.
The game entered a lengthy period of stoppage time, at the start of which, a corner from the left was met by Jenkins to head home from close range to give Oxford belief that they could get something out of the game.
Oxford laid siege to the Bournemouth goal but, apart from a shot from distance that Foley was able to catch, they were unable to breach the home defence and had to come home without any reward for some good second-half play.
After the game, Shaun Green said: “Overall, it was a disappointing result. We’d have liked to have come here and picked up the three points. That’s what we were here to do.
“We started a little bit slowly but as the game progressed, we got a foothold in it with a little bit more possession and looking after the ball and trying to create things.
“We regrouped at half time, and the second half started a bit transitional but then we gained a foothold in the game and as it went on they started sitting off and we tried to go forwards. We scored a late goal and were looking for an equaliser. It’s just unfortunate it wasn’t to be.”
UNITED: Wookey, Gibson (Jenkins 61), Wiseman, Bedeau, Casley, Barrett (Sealey 61), Legg, Turner (Thompson 32), Palmer, Barker, Manders (Provan 74)
